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Rising Star is celebrating their twenty-fifth year at the Othello Harris-Jefferson Student Center of Bluefield State College in Bluefield Friday October 21st 6pm to 11pm and Saturday October 22nd 9am to 11pm. They are also celebrating the forty anniversary of conventions in the region.

West Virginia State University Artist-in-Residence Daniel Boyd will be the featured presenter at the Rising Star Science Fiction Convention, October 23 and 24 at the Harris – Jefferson Student Center of Bluefield State College. Boyd will be discussing “Next–to–No-Budget Filmmaking in West Virginia” on Friday night. The talk will be a discussion of how he produced three low-budget films during the 1980s in a state not well known for its film industry. This will be followed by a twenty-fifth anniversary showing of his SF adventure, “Strangest Dreams: Invasion of the Space Preachers.”
On Saturday afternoon, he will be taking part in a discussion of independent comics. His third graphic novel, “Carbon” was released earlier this year. It’s sequel, “Salt” is currently in the planning stages.

A tentpole of the event is the annual appearance of the award-winning Bluefield State College Robotics Team. Well known and well-respected in the college robotics field, the team demonstrate their latest projects and innovations in the field of autonomous mechanisms.

Other items of interest include tradition tabletop, card and electronic games, anime, workshops, a vendors area and much more. The centerpiece of the event is a collectibles auction which raises funds toward the endowment of scholarships in the names of Jonathan David Miller and David Eugene Craig, founding members of the Bluefield State College Science Fiction Club. All proceeds from the auction go toward the goal of raising $10,000.00 to endow a $500.00 annual scholarship in the name of the honorees. A portion of any net profits from the convention itself will also be applied to this goal.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Friday evening, with programming starting at 7:00 p.m. and going on until roughly midnight. The doors reopen Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. and are open until the end of the Saturday evening entertainment, which includes a concert by musical comedy group White Plectrum. Admission at the door for attendees six and up is $5.00 to the public. Students of Bluefield State College, as well as faculty and staff get in free.

West Virginia’s oldest convention, Rising Star, returns for another year. October Friday 24th and Saturday 25th at the Bluefield State College (BSC) in Bluefield. This will be Rising Star 23 and the theme for the year is Kaiju and celebrating the birthday of Godzilla.

Programming will include game demos, discussion panels, board gaming, anime viewing room, video gaming, dealers and artists, photo ops, costume contest, concert, charity auction, concessions, brony meet up, Werewolf games, workshops, and just generally hanging out with some of the old guard. I will be running a game show on Saturday, so come check out Geek On to see who the biggest nerd is. The charity auction on Saturday will raise money to establish the Johnny Miller and David Craig Memorial Scholarships.

A pass is only $5 at the door for both days. BSC students, faculty, and staff get in free though.

Fans who like small events and many different fandoms will want to come check this out.